Scientists shocked after Harper government assigns IT staff to monitor ozone data - Atheist Nexus2015-08-02T23:36:18Zhttp://atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/scientists-shocked-after-harper-government-assigns-it-staff-to?feed=yes&xn_auth=noThe relevant part for me was…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-09-15:2182797:Comment:20538262012-09-15T20:11:01.522ZRuth Anthony-Gardnerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/RuthAnthonyGardner
<p>The relevant part for me was</p>
<blockquote><p>...they were shocked to learn about the budget cuts and staffing changes made by the Harper government.</p>
<p>The scientists said the monitoring was previously done with oversight from atmospheric experts who have been reassigned or have retired. But now, they say that the person in charge is the wrong type of expert.</p>
<p>“He’s an IT person,” said Mark Weber, an atmospheric scientist from Germany’s University of Bremen. “This is not just an…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The relevant part for me was</p>
<blockquote><p>...they were shocked to learn about the budget cuts and staffing changes made by the Harper government.</p>
<p>The scientists said the monitoring was previously done with oversight from atmospheric experts who have been reassigned or have retired. But now, they say that the person in charge is the wrong type of expert.</p>
<p>“He’s an IT person,” said Mark Weber, an atmospheric scientist from Germany’s University of Bremen. “This is not just an IT problem. <strong>I think the person (assigned to manage the data) basically is not sufficiently qualified for doing such a job because he needs to have a much stronger scientific background</strong>.” [emphasis mine]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This reminds me of the movie The China Syndrome, where budget constraints lead the nuclear power company to put janitors in charge of changing radiation mask filters.</p>